106 
PHARMACOGNOSY. 
are of a disagreeable odor as well as inflammable. 
Ether has been suggested, but it is very volatile and 
inflammable. The use of formaldehyde should pro- 
ceed slowly until it is certain that it has no harmful 
effects, especially when used in the preservation of 
herbs used for teas for children; and orris root, which 
is used for teething infants. The use of chloroform as 
a preservative has been sanctioned by the U.S.P. in the 
case of ergot, and is probably the best preservative that 
has been proposed. 
Commercial Forms of Drugs. — Vegetable drugs are 
brought into the market in various forms: they may 
be crude ; that is more or less entire, or in a powdered 
condition. Crude drugs may be nearly entire as seeds, 
flowers, fruits, leaves, and some roots and rhizomes; or 
they may be cut or sliced, as in woods, barks and many 
roots and a few rhizomes. They may be more or less 
matted together, as in chondrus and the solanaceous 
leaves ; or they may be pressed together by means of 
hydraulic pressure, giving the so-called pressed drugs; 
or they are first powdered and then molded into forms, 
as “ rhubarb fingers.” In some cases the periderm 
is removed, as in a number of roots, rhizomes and 
barks. 
The quality of vegetable drugs is injured by a 
number of conditions, of which the following may be 
mentioned : (1) lack of knowledge or want of care in 
collecting them ; (2) carelessness in drying and caring 
for them ; (3) insufficient care in garbling and prepar- 
ing them for the market; (4) inattention in preserving 
them and storing them ; (5) accidental admixture in 
the store, and (6) adulteration and substitution. 
The influence which the time of collection has on the 
quality of vegetable drugs may be best shown by a few 
illustrations. It is well known that when the fruits of 
